Molecular phylegenetic investigatons on Colpoda (Protista Ciliophora) species from van province

In this study, isolation, morphological and morphometric characterization and molecular phylogenetic characteristics of ciliates belonging to genus Colpoda living in Van province were investigated. Four populations belonging to genus Colpoda including C. lucida, C. maupasi,C. magna and Colpoda sp. were isolated from soil cultures. Morphological characteristics of these populations were determined by using live and various silver impregnation techniques. A Colpoda population isolated in this investigation could not be included in any species previouslly described, and were given as Colpoda sp. The 18S rDNA gene regions of the ciliates were amplified and sequenced. The phylogeny of the Colpoda genus was determined using Bayesian inference and maximum likelihood approach. Colpodid ciliates identified in this study are in agreement with the literature data in terms of general morphological characteristics. However, the cell size of the C. magna was found to have a wider range of variations compared to previous studies, and C. lucida population was composed of smaller size individuals. This study is the first molecular investigation with 18S rDNA gene sequences of members of the genus Colpoda in Turkey. When the molecular phylogenetic trees were examined, it was observed that the Colpoda genus was a monophilic taxa. Although the populations obtained in this study showed clustering on phylogenetic trees together with other populations of the same species, it was found that they tend to genetically seperate away from them. It was concluded that this situation may be variations in different ecological conditions. This may be due to the fact that organisms have accumulated different mutations under different ecological conditions and that there is no difference at the species level yet.